Organisers of the Secret Garden Party have warned that “inaccurate” commenting on sex assaults at music festivals could be putting audiences at risk.

The Secret Garden Party and the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) have hit out over the way accounts of sexual assaults at festivals in Europe and in the UK have been presented in the media and online.

The festival, near Huntingdon, has been mentioned in a number of the reports after a woman alleged that she had been raped at last year’s event.

A 31-year-old man from London has been charged with raping a 23-year-old woman at the festival and will appear at Peterborough Crown Court on July 27.

A spokeswoman for the festival said that sexual assaults of any kind were clearly “unacceptable” and that they had measures in place to make the site was safe as possible, with welfare facilities available where festival-goers could discuss concerns.

They have also been working closely with police.

A statement from the Secret Garden Party said a number of articles produced by writers and bloggers had contained inaccuracies and false claims.

“This hurts, particularly when we a striving to deal with this issue to the best of our ability. The care of our attendees is always our first priority,” the statement said.

“Festivals are generally a safe and friendly environment and there needs to be some sense of proportion based on facts.”

The Secret Garden Party said it was willing to engage with people on what was an important issue and had put it on the agenda of the AIF.

“Such articles risk actively endangering our audience by convincing them we don’t care, that there is no point in approaching us with their concerns and by portraying festivals as a place where people can expect to get away with this kind of behaviour,” the statement said.

Paul Reed, general manager of the AIF, which represents more than 60 festival organisers, said: “It is extremely disappointing that some sections of the media are engaging in scaremongering on what is obviously a very serious subject, not helped by the fact that recent articles have been poorly researched and, in some cases, entirely inaccurate.”

Chief Inspector Laura Hunt, from Cambridgeshire police said police and Secret Garden Party organisers had worked together following the rape allegation.

“The police and event organisers were very open and transparent in our response to this serious crime because it was our firm view that this would better keep people safe and, of course, deliver a duty of care,” she said.